


The Vanishing

by yellow_sunrise



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Missing in Action, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Single Parenting (but not really cause Iris is still married to Barry)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 10:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellow_sunrise/pseuds/yellow_sunrise
Summary: Flash vanishes in a crisis and Iris continues living.





	The Vanishing

**Author's Note:**

> This is not a sad story, not really. Just something I was thinking about because they KNOW Barry is gonna disappear but they're like "Yeah we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Bruh what?

The fighting stopped abruptly. The red skies lingered for several sluggish heartbeats and then it faded away, leaving the sky a serene blue. Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, and Atom were the only ones left behind. Iris West-Allen was frozen, live on air. Broadcasting the whole thing to the city, the vanishing of the Flash. Se fumbled through a recap, trying to reign in her fear. She knew this date. Used to fear it, when it meant her death. April had rapidly approached and now it was here and Iris didn’t know how to reconcile that Barry Allen might be dead.

She attempted to get a statement from the heroes still injured and tired in the street but they all exchanged looks and left. Iris wasn’t even mad. That was the drill. Iris West-Allen was close to the Flashes, but not too much to the others. It kept her relatively safe.

When Iris could finally go home, she went to her father’s house and got her kids, her face drawn into a stressed smile. The kids knew when she was upset and she couldn’t risk them getting upset.

They ran to her and she engulfs them in hugs, burying her face in the soft clouds of their curls. They smiled at her like usual and Iris prayed that she had good news for them soon.

“Iris we saw the news! What happened?” her dad asked. Iris shook her head. Not in front of the kids.

“I’ll explain later. They’re gonna need people to calm down the public. You’re probably gonna get a call. Where’s Cecile?”

“She was downtown at a hearing but she told me she’s on her way with Joanie,” he explained.

“She might take a while, traffic is gonna be murder. I’m gonna get the kids home and see if anyone knows anything.” she said.

Her dad opened his arms and Iris felt her eyes well up.

“It’s gonna be okay baby girl. Don’t you worry,”

“You know, I know when parents lie to protect their kids now. I’m a mom now, remember?”

“You’re a great mom. Go home and try to rest first honey. We’ll tackle this tomorrow,” he assured her.

So Iris took her twins and went home. They chattered in the car and asked if they could have mac and cheese for dinner.

“You can have mac and cheese, but you have to give me ten kisses at bedtime,” she told them, with a grin.

“Mommy, where’s Mr. Turtle?” Don asked, making grabby hands.

“Do you leave him at Pawpaw’s house?” she asked, looking at the toys strewn across the living room. Right. She hadn’t cleaned up this morning.

“No,” he drew out his word and Iris smiled.

“Well, why don’t you and Nora go look and I’ll get started on mac and cheese?” she said. Nora grabbed her brother’s hand.

“We’ll find it mama!” she declared. The twins ran upstairs first, at normal speed, and Iris sighed.

She didn’t feel like cooking of course, but she got out the good pasta and milk, and cheese, and butter. By now she had perfected mac and cheese, the favorite of both her kids. She grabbed some frozen vegetables and tossed them into a pan and let them bake. The kids didn’t like mushy food unless is was ice cream or applesauce.

She didn’t make any meat but the kids didn’t mind if they ate like herbivores for a night.

When the mac and cheese was ready for the oven, Don and Nora came back triumphantly, Mr. Turtle clutched in Don’s arms.

“He was under my bed,” Nora told Iris, grabbing at the pants leg.

“Oh? And it took you so long to find him?” she asked, raising an eyebrow with a smile.

“We started to play first,” Nora admitted. Iris laughed and rubbed their heads affectionately.

“The important thing is that you found him. Do you want to clean up after your toys for me?” she asked, and they rushed off again, they speed just barely too fast.

Iris cried over the vegetales, but got herself together enough to serve dinner and bathe the kids and get them to bed.

By the time the kids were asleep, Iris was ready to have some answers, so she called Cisco, eager to get some news.

“Ramon,” he greeted, his voice professional and stern.

“Cisco it’s me,” she said. He sighed in relief.

“Iris, good, you’re still awake.”

“Of course I’m still awake! What happened?” she asked, closing the door to the kids’ room and going to the living room.

“We’re still not sure. But Barry and the Reverse-Flash definitely opened a breach in time while they were fighting.”

“A breach? That hole in the sky was a breach? It looked like an explosion!” she said. Cisco sighed.

“I’m not sure since I wasn’t there to feel it, but Cynthia told me that her dad felt it on their Earth. So, it was definitely a breach.” he explained.

“Is there a way to track where he ended up?”

“Unless Barry leaves us clues to find in the future? No, not now. But I swear to you I’ll start looking,” he promised.

“Before you do that, are you injured?” she asked. Cisco was silent and Iris huffed.

“Cisco, get some first aid and some rest. I’ll talk to everyone, see who’s not running clean up.”

“No it’s fine Iris. It’s just, I can’t understand how this happened. Barry knows not to time travel, so why did he?”

“I think I know what it is,” she admitted.

“Alright, West-Allen, share with the class.” Cisco said.

“The future article, I’m going to write a piece about him disappearing and I think I can guess where he went, or where he’ll end up. Reverse-Flash told Barry that when he found out when he was from and then his identity, he went to kill Barry as a child.”

“He went to stop him,” Cisco realized.

“Yeah. But Reverse-Flash lost his speed travelling that far back. If Barry gets lost in time--”

“He’s not Iris. We’re going to find Barry and get him safe and sound,” Cisco promised. Iris rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“First we have to get the fighting started, help the city. Barry would want that.” she said.

“I know. I’ll let you know if I learn anything new Iris.”

“Thanks Cisco,” she said. “Be safe out there.” she ordered.

“You got it boss,” he said, although now Iris was hardly his boss.

She hung up and went to the tv and turned it on. The news was detailing the clean up efforts and apparently they were talking about the other battles which had damaged those cities.

Iris turned the tv to low and got out her laptop. She wrote the article on autopilot, her mind wandering to Barry so often that he might as well have been there with her. She proofread it, and sent it to her editor asked for time off.

The next day, Barry Allen was declared missing by Iris. 

Her boss found out through the grapevine and sent her a fruit basket. She old the kids that she didn’t know where Barry was, but that he’d be home. She didn’t say he’d be home soon because she didn’t know. And she tried not to lie to her kids, and she certainly didn’t want to start now.

“But why’d he leave?”

“Because the bad Man in Yellow was going to do something bad and Daddy went to stop him,” Iris explain patiently, though Nora didn’t look satisfied.

“Mommy, why’d he go alone?” she asked. Iris sighed. Her daughter was an inquisitive type and Iris foresaw a lot of questions in her future.

“He didn’t want everyone involved. He wanted to keep everyone safe,” she said. Nora sniffed, somewhat snootily.

“You said you and Daddy were a team. He should’ve taken you too,” Nora said stubbornly. Iris couldn’t hold back her laugh.

“Maybe, but we can’t both be away from our angels,” Iris said, tapping Nora on the nose and ruffling Don’s curls. Nora continued to eat her cereal and Don kept drawing. Don was pretty quiet in the mornings and he only ate warm colors, in the morning. Today he seemed especially quiet but at least he wasn’t unhappy.

“I hope he comes back soon! Don drew him a picture and I want him to see it!” Nora exclaimed. 

“Nora,” he whined in response, looking sheepish and embarrassed.

“I’m sure Daddy will love what you drew Don,” Iris kissed his forehead and he leaned into the touch just a little. He was a mama’s boy for sure, and Iris felt sad for Nora, who was clearly missing her dad so much.

“Mommy can we get a puppy?” Nora asked suddenly.

“Hm? A puppy? Where’s this coming from? You always wanted a turtle,” Iris said.

“Really? And this isn’t a ploy for you to get two pets?” she asked. Nora pursed her lips and shook her head stubbornly, although her ears tips did turn red, a sure fire sign that she was lying.

“No. Don and I are two different kids!” she exclaimed. Iris bit back a smile. Not too long ago, a colleague of Barry’s had suggested that Don and Nora wear matching patterns and colors, to really emphasize that they were twins. Barry, indignant and appalled, said:

“They’re two different kids? Why would I make them dress the same?”

And Nora had run with it since then, sometimes to her advantage.

“Well honey, even if you’re two different kids, we have one house that honestly I don’t know if we could all be responsible for two pets,” Iris said honestly. Truthfully it was a miracle that Barry and Iris could get anything done. Barry was head of the CSI department and Iris was an investigative reporter, but she also ran a functional database for metahuman criminals in Central City, and three other cities. Not to mention the Flash stuff and Justice League liaisons. The thought of looking after a pet on top of that seemed particularly daunting.

Nora sighed, but nodded.

“Okay Mommy. Can we go to the park today?” she asked.

“Sure. Don do you wanna go to the park?” she asked. Don yawned as he nodded, though he slumped in his chair.

Iris looked skeptically at Nora who shrugged.

“He’s tired?”

 

Iris took the kids to a park, far away from the usual place because because the city was still cleaning up and Iris didn’t want to see the aftermath of the destruction. Watching the fight had been enough for her and she wanted to at least keep her kids away from tragedy.

The twins didn’t even mind the new place, loved it even. There was a manmade lake, and a short path which wound around the whole park, and a modest playground enclosed in the walkway. People filled the park from elderly couples, to young children playing on the equipment. Nora, ever the leader, guided Don to the other children and broke the ice. Iris sat down on a bench and watched them, her smile light and happy.

They were here happiness, plain and simple. She loved her job, her family her husband. But her kids? She loved them for being themselves, how they were like here, and now more than ever, how they were like Barry. 

Don turned to her and waved, and she returned the gesture with a blown kiss, and he grinned before running off again.

“The twins are yours?” another mom asked, nodding toward the twins.

“Yes. They’re four.” Iris said. The woman smiled. 

“That’s my Jason right there,” the woman nodded, her own boy a brightly smiling brunet, currently playing hopscotch.

“He’s tall for his age,” Iris observes.

“I’m glad you can tell he’s young. He’d barely five but people think he’s seven.”

“It’s an easy mistake to make,” Iris says. “My husband was nearly six feet by the time he was fifteen. If it weren’t for his baby face people might’ve thought he was a real adult.”

“My brother’s like that,” the woman also said. She offered her hand and a tired smile. “I’m Beatrice, but people call me Bea.”

“Iris,” she replied.

“It’s nice to meet you Iris. I’ve never seen you around here,” Bea said.

“I usually don’t come around here. But our usual park is super close to wear the fighting happened yesterday,” Iris trailed off and Bea nodded.

“Ah. Yeah I can see why you’d come to a new place. My told me I should’ve never moved here, but honestly I love this city.” Bea sighed.

“Even with all the metahumans running around and the high crime?”

“I used to live in Gotham. Believe me when I say Central City is a huge upgrade. I almost got mugged twice in twenty minutes,” Bea deadpanned. Iris let out an absurd laugh, covering her mouth.

“Sorry, that’s not actually funny.”

“Oh it is. Same guy,” Bea told her.

“No way,” 

Bea nodded, taking a sip of what was clearly coffee.

“Mhm. Sure was. He was just as surprised as me. But luckily for me, Batman was there to help me out. I had already used my pepper spray.” Bea snickered.

“We live in a strange world,” Iris said, watching as Nora turned herself upside down on the monkey bars. “Nora, be careful baby girl!” Iris called. Nora waved, shaking precariously on the bars.

“Okay Mommy!” 

Iris sighed and Bea laughed.

“Yeah, it’s like that. My oldest is eight actually. She’s pretty reckless,” Bea laughed.

“God, do you ever get a moment’s rest from the worry?”

“Oh never! When she went to school I kept waiting for this phone call from the teacher that she was crying, lonely, missing me, stuff like that, you know? But she had a blast. She couldn’t wait to go back and it occured to me that kids are pretty tough,” Bea sighed. Iris looked over and saw that Bea was watching as her son went over to the twins.

Iris and Bea sat in companionable silence until Iris got a call from Cisco.

“Cisco, what’s up?” she asked, as she answered.

“Iris we--Barry he’s. We have no clue what’s happening but he keeps asking for you,” Cisco said.

Iris nodded and gathered her things.

“Yeah, okay I’m on my way. I just need to get the kids. We’ll be right over!”

She turned to Bea with a helpless smile.

“It was nice to meet you Iris,” Bea said.

“Same here. Actually, here’s my card,” Iris dug around in her bag, handing a crinkled card.

“Thanks. Maybe we should set up a play date,”

“We should. Which reminds me! Don, Nora! We have to go!” Iris called, waving her children over. Iris’s face must have been appropriately urgent, since the twins came with no argument. Iris shuffled them into the car and drove to S.T.A.R. Labs. Had she been alone, she would have been speeding, but she had her kids in the car so she calmed herself. When she got there, the place was down to a skeleton crew. She pulled the nearest technician aside.

“Where’s Mr. Ramon?” she asked.

“He’s in the Cortex,” the man stammered.

“Thanks, c’mon kids!” And the West-Allens made their way to the Cortex. It was filled with superheroes and their support teams, though she spotted Cisco quickly.

“Cisco, what happened?” she asked.

“It’s Barry--”

“Daddy’s home?” Don asked excitedly.

“Maybe not baby. He might just have something to tell us,” Iris said quickly, because if Barry were here, he’d have the kids and Iris in his arms.

“Right, that’s the thing, he keeps appearing and reappearing from the spped force.”

“So we just need to pull him out, right?”

“Not quite. It looks like Flash is warning us about something and says he won’t leave until he has more information,” a gruff voice interrupted. It was Batman. He didn’t come to Central City much, but Iris had met him once and written about him enough that she actually knew his secet identity, though she hadn’t told him that.

“Well, if he’s in the speedforce he’s gonna need someone to draw him out.”

“Well we can settle that later,”

“Um, no we’re settling it now. In fact, I’m gonna be the one to draw him out. If he’s untethered in the speed force for too long, who knows what will happen?” she asked rhetorically. Several of them sighed and Iris narrowed her eyes at them before turning to Cisco.

“What are they all sitting on? Cisco, what’s happening?”

“Barry’s. He not our Barry. He’s older,” Cisco said. Iris sighed and rubbed her face.

“Don, Nora, do you guys want to go to the playroom?” she asked. Don nodded but Nora stared at Iris, and for a moment Iris was sure that Nora was finally tired of not having answers. That she would argue and throw a tantrum.

“Okay, Mommy. Bye Uncle Cisco. By Badman,” she waved at Batman and followed Don who was waiting in the doorway for his sister. Iris knew that Nora knew exactly what Batman’s name was, but must have noticed her annoyance with the man.

“Bye baby. Stay together and don’t wander!” Iris ordered. 

“I’ll ust the cameras,” he assured her when she looked at him.

“Thanks. Now, from the beginning. Tell me what happened.” 

Iris was surrounded by superheroes and for a moment she was quite unsure. She was out of her league--quite literally--and she took a deep steadying breath while several of them started speaking, and finishing each other’s sentences.

“This morning, like early this morning Barry appeared in this creepy, light in the watchtower--” Cisco began.

“And we couldn’t understand him. He was speaking in some other language and he was screaming. That Barry looked like our Barry,” Dinah said.

“And then a couple of hours later he was back only--”

“Calmer. Like scary calm. That one was really old, like Joe old--” Oliver interjected. Iris rubbed her brow.

“So he’s what, rapidly aging?”

“Or he appears to be. The last one was not that long ago, maybe two hours and he looked like our Barry again. Only he was speaking a language we know. Spanish, weirdly enough,” Kendra replied.

“What was he saying?”

“`Get Iris! You have to get her!’ So, naturally…” Cisco said.

“Wait, if that was two hours ago why am I just now getting here?”

“We’re hoping that when he appears next you’ll already be here,” Batman said. Iris nodded.

“Right, so we just wait then?”

“Yes. Since he was asking for you, I figured that we can vibe you to him and pull him out,”

“Or figure out what he needs.” Iris nodded.

“Exactly. All we have to do is--”

A hole seemed to rip into the air in the center of the group, and lightning arced, zipping along Iris’s skin, though it wasn’t painful. Although the other jumped back. Iris saw Barry’s face in the lightning, blurry around the edges and other. He looked like her Barry, but not quite.

“Iris!”

“Barry what’s wrong?” she asked, yelling to be heard over the crackling of the lightning.

“You have to stop her! She’s going to go back!”

“Who? Bary who went back?”

“Nora! You have to stop her!” Barry yelled back. Iris was about to ask what he meant but she heard Nora, calling out to her dad.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed, running for Barry. Iris snatched her up just in time and Nora cried out.

“Nora, no you can’t do that!”

“No, Daddy where are you?”

“Nora, you have to wait,” Barry said. His own face crumpling as Nora began to tear up.

“Nora, please don’t,” Iris begged.

“She can’t go back to the past, Iris!”

“I won’t let her Barry I promise. Do what you have to, and then come back to us,” she said. Barry nodded and he disappeared. The lightning was gone and Iris sagged, her squirming daughter crying.

“Why can’t Daddy come home? Why, why why?” she started to hit Iris, but she couldn’t feel it. She carried Nora away and found an empty work room. She sat down, with Nora in her lap and waited for her to finish crying. She pressed her hot face to Iris’s neck, gasping as she tried to stop. Iris pressed her lips to Nora’s temple and rocking. She was comforting Nora but she was wondering where Don was, if he also needed him mom.

“Baby girl you can’t do anything like that. You scared me half to death,” Iris told her. Nora sniffled and wiped her snot on Iris’s neck, pulling away to look at her.

“But why not? That was Daddy! You were talking to him! I wanna talk to him too!” 

“I know baby I know. But Daddy is somewhere far away. It only seems like he’s close. But you can’t just run off. It’s not safe.”

“Is Daddy ever gonna come home?” 

Iris’s lip trembled but she nodded at Nora, her face serious.

“You dad will do whatever he can to come back to you and your brother,”

“And you mommy!” Nora protested. Iris smiled.

“Yeah. He’s gonna do what he can to come back. Now, dry those eyes. And where’s Don?”

“He’s in the playroom. I told him that we were playing hide and seek. He still thinks I’m hiding,” Nora admitted.

“Nora Dawn Allen! That was mean. Come on, we’re going to find your brother and go apologize,” Iris said. Nora sighed.

“Okay,” she groaned but she wiped her nose on her sleeve and trotted away. Iris accompanied Nora to the playroom, laughing when Don pointed accusingly at Nora.

“You left me!”

“I was on a mission!” Nora replied. Don pouted and Nora hugged him in apology.

“Sorry Donnie. Next time I’ll bring you with me,” she promised.

“You better,” he said and Nora nodded, grabbing his hand. They had a silent conversation, as they usually did, and Iris knew that Don was already over it. Nora said nothing about where she went and Iris didn’t offer the information.

Once the kids were settled, Iris went to the Cortex. Everyone was discussing how to tether Barry through Iris when she cut them off.

“Not yet. Barry clearly needs to do something before he comes back. When he’s ready he’ll let us know.”

“Iris, the last time he spent so long in the speed force he came out--” Cisco made a vague gesture to his head and Iris nodded.

“I know. But he seemed to think that he had something to do. So we let him do whatever that is. And we bring him home,” she said. Hawkgirl made a face at Batman who looked smug, and Iris figured she must have settled a debate.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’m taking the twins out to lunch. Let me know if anything changes, yeah?”

They nodded and Iris left, again. Her worries were still there and she had every reason to fear he wouldn’t come home but Iris had faith in Flash, and more importantly she had faith in Barry.


End file.
